Online Patronage Process System (OPPS)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is the OPPS?

The new Online Patronage Process System (OPPS) has been developed to provide objective information to all parents and guardians which will allow them to make an informed choice about their preferred model of patronage for their child’s education. Parents will be able to access this site and express a preference for the new school for the school planning area in which the child resides.

2. What Schools currently have Patronage Processes ongoing?

The Patronage Process is currently open for the four new post-primary schools due to be established in 2019. These schools are to be established in the school planning areas of:

Donaghmede - Howth - D13 (Belmayne/Clongriffin area)

Galway City & Oranmore (Regional Solution)

Laytown & Drogheda (Regional Solution)

Wicklow

3. What is a School Planning Area?

In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. The Department uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify where the need for school places across the country will arise. The GIS uses data from a range of sources. Nationwide demographic exercises involving all school planning areas at primary and post-primary level determines where new schools will be needed in the future.

4. What is a ‘Regional Solution’?

In some instances, while projected growth in a single school planning area may not, of itself, warrant provision of a new school, where the combined demographic increases across a number of adjacent school planning areas indicate sufficient demand for a viable school, a regional solution may be put in place to serve these areas.

5. Why can't I express a preference if my child does not live in one of these areas?

All new schools established since 2011 to meet demographic demand are required to enrol children from within the designated school planning area which the school was established to serve. Therefore, only parents of eligible children residing in the school planning area can express a preference with regard to the patronage of the new school.

This does not preclude schools from enrolling pupils from outside of the designated school planning area, rather it reflects the need to accommodate in the first instance the demographic for which the school was established.

6. My child lives just outside the school planning area and I cannot express a patronage preference – does this mean my child cannot attend this school?

All new schools established since 2011 to meet demographic demand are required to enrol children from within the designated school planning area which the school was established to serve. This does not preclude schools from enrolling pupils from outside of the designated school planning area, rather it reflects the need to accommodate in the first instance the demographic for which the school was established.

7. Why can’t I express a preference for one of the other new schools which were recently announced by the Minister?

The Minister announced the establishment of 42 new schools at primary and post-primary level over the period 2019 – 2022. The first of these processes has now opened in respect of the post-primary schools to be established in 2019.

There will be further patronage processes for the remainder of the new schools announced by the Minister, including a patronage process for the new primary schools to be established in 2019 which will commence before the end of 2018. Updates in relation to further patronage processes will be announced on the OPPS website and the Department’s website (www.education.ie).

Your child must be resident within the boundaries of the relevant school planning area in order for you to submit your patronage preference. If your Eircode is located outside the school planning area boundary, you will not be able to proceed.

If you consider that the Eircode is within the school planning area and that an error has been made, please contact the Department at opps@education.gov.ie

Please ensure that the Eircode has been entered correctly. The Eircode website states that: "To avoid confusion, we have not used the letter 'O' in Eircodes, however the number '0' (zero) may be included in the Eircode for your address

If you do not know the Eircode, you can find the Eircode at eircode.ie

If you cannot locate your Eircode or an Eircode has not yet been assigned, please contact: opps@education.gov.ie

10. What are the next steps in the patronage process?

The patronage process for new schools is overseen by an external independent advisory group, the New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG). Once the online system for patronage preferences has closed, the Department will complete assessment reports for the NSEG on each of the four areas.

Following their consideration of the Department’s assessment reports, the NSEG submits a report with recommendations to the Minister for consideration and final decision. The assessment reports and the NSEG recommendations for all such patronage processes will be made available on the Department's website.

11. Where will the school be located?

In light of the announcement of new schools by the Minister, the locations for all of the schools will be determined as part of the site acquisition process. Decisions will be made in relation to appropriate sites for the schools announced and will be confirmed at a later date.

12. Will the new school be built by 2019?

A phased start-up is envisaged initially which typically involves the use of interim accommodation. A permanent new school building can be planned once a site has been secured.

13. Will this be an English-medium or Irish-medium school?

The patronage process incorporates consideration of, and the potential for, Irish-medium provision. Parental preferences for each patron and for Irish-medium or English-medium provision, together with the extent of diversity currently available in the area, are key to decisions in relation to the outcome of this process.

14. Will this be a mixed or single-sex school

The four post-primary schools to be established in 2019 will be co-educational post-primary schools.

15. Why isn’t there going to be a school in my area?

In addition to the new schools announced, there will be a need for further school accommodation in other school planning areas in the future. Based on the current analysis, this need can be addressed through either planned capacity increases in existing schools or additional accommodation or extensions to existing schools.

While the announcement may not have included a new post-primary school for your school planning area, the Minister has highlighted that the requirement for new schools will be kept under on-going review and in particular would have regard for the increased rollout of housing provision as outlined in Project Ireland 2040.

16. Can you explain the demographic process?

In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System (GIS), using data from a range of sources, to identify where the need for school places across the country will arise. With this information, the Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises to determine where additional school accommodation is needed at primary and post-primary level.

Where demographic data indicates that additional provision is required, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may, depending on the circumstances, be provided through either one, or a combination of, the following: